I wait for them to take me to task for running, then getting into a fight. I deserve their reprimands. I couldn’t even go five minutes without killing someone.
Maybe they are right—maybe I deserve to be locked up and kept away from the general public.
I can’t trust myself, so how can I expect them to trust me?
* * *
TOBIAS
Soaked in blood, her eyes black from the fight, Jolie is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I should be repulsed. I was raised to hate vampires from the moment I could walk, but I’m unable to resist the sweet air of innocence mixed with the intoxicating blend of vengeance.
I expected her to be pleased by the fight, high from the blood and adrenaline, but she is so silent that my hackles rise. Desperate to get her somewhere safe, I grab her arm and nudge her toward the alleyway. “We should get going.”
She takes a few steps, following meekly in a way that hurts something in my chest. We almost reach the street before she stiffens and comes to a stop. She whirls, then glances back into the alley. “We can’t just leave them.”
I twist and glance behind me. “The bodies? They’ll be fine. I’ll call HQ to come and clean them up.”
A cute little furrow appears between her brows, giving me awhat the fucklook. “Not the vampires. They can fucking rot for all I care. I meant, what do you want to do about the cats?”
I can only blink at her for a full minute, stunned by her question. “What do you want to do?”
“They’re hurt. We can’t just leave them here. Someone else is just going to come along and finish the job.” She walks back through the alley, only to stop when the young cat shoots to his feet before swaying alarmingly. He spreads his legs for balance and stands protectively in front of the man crumpled on the ground. His many cuts still leak blood, and bruises are darkening his skin. He’s so injured, his wounds so deep, that he’s not really healing.
Jolie isn’t wrong.
Shifter blood is supercharged. Vampires can get drunk by consuming too much of it. Some shifters sell their blood, while other times, vampires just take what they want, hunting down their prey and draining them over and over until their blood is so diluted that they’re no longer worth keeping alive.
I lift my hands to show him that we mean no harm, which seems to calm him slightly. He looks at us warily, and I can’t say that I blame him. “Can you call your alpha or a member of your pack or claw to come and get you?”
The kid winces and shakes his head. “Most of our claw won’t dare come into the city. It’s too dangerous to ask anyone to take the risk until morning. We’ll be fine.”
His voice cracks on the last word, and I mentally wince, because we both know he’s lying.
Castle snorts and crosses his arms over his impressive chest. “You mean you snuck into the city.”
A blush darkens the kid’s cheeks, and his shoulders slump at the accusation. “I snuck into the city for a party at the edge of town. It was dead, so everyone decided to come to The Den for a little fun. We were a group of shifters, I figured we’d be safe, so I joined them.
“Bryce is an enforcer where I live. He must have noticed me missing or someone reported me gone. He came to retrieve me. We were just leaving when he caught a whiff of something that set him off. He was frantic, desperate to get to the alley.
“The vampires must have slipped something into our drinks while we were distracted.” A pissed off scowl darkens his expression that he was so easily tricked. “Bryce took a bigger hit than me, which left him weak and easy prey. No one can know that we snuck into the territory, or it could lead to trouble.”
“You mean war,” Castle corrects, his low voice gruff, the scowl on his face full of disapproval. He pinches the bridge of his nose, as if dealing with the kid is testing his patience, but I understand the visceral need to protect a member of my pack.
“What’s your name?” Jolie interrupts, placing a hand on Castle’s arm. The big wolf stills at her touch, then looks down at her hand on his arm. His face softens, and he allows her to take the lead.
“Kenny,” he mutters reluctantly.
“Well, Kenny, you have a decision to make. Neither you nor Bryce are in any shape to fight. You won’t make it more than a few minutes before another vampire scents you,” Jolie says, glancing at me with a stubborn, defiant look in her dark eyes, and I mentally scoff in my head. Like I would deny her anything.
I love the chaos she brings into my life.
She forces me to remember what it’s like to actually live, not just exist from day to day.
“Is there not a sanctuary in the city where shifters can go for the night?” Jolie turns her dark eyes on me, and my chest puffs up that she’s turning to me for help.
I only wish I had a better answer for her. “No, none that are safe, anyway. We could bring them to HQ, but a report will have to be filed.”
“They’re not much better.” Kenny snorts, crossing his arms in defiance in a way only a teenager can. “We’ll take our chances on the street rather than garner the attention of HQ.”
